Future without screens: virtual reality will change our perception and communication technologies

Technology entrepreneur and publicist Sean Ronchi (Shaun Roncken) wrote an article about how virtual reality will change our perception of technology, space and communication with other people. We chose the most interesting abstracts.

How we interact with technology

On the screens of laptops and smartphones, we are used to see what is called a GUI (Graphical User Interface). Even in the 80 years of his popularized by companies such as Xerox, Apple and Microsoft.

First, the interaction with the computer is a complicated process, requiring special skills, and consisted in a manual command set on sinister black screen.

Over time, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and other innovators to make the interface simple and intuitive. Recruited to replace instructions came symbolic icons that can be activated and moved with the mouse cursor. Now all this things for granted, but in their time they were breakthrough.

Today, graphical user interfaces have become almost a natural extension of ourselves.

Browsers anticipate the words that we write. A mobile device allows strongly interact with the elements by pressing and gestures. After 30-35 years of personal computers, we have come to the point where anyone can learn gadgets, including your grandmother.

But as soon as we were able to conceive a technological era, like its successor is already underway another. And familiar to modern designers and user interfaces, and the other will have to completely revise.

VR is already changing our perception of space. What's next?

Take for example a simple-to-use video service Netflix. To turn the show, just go to the website, run the catalog and click on the desired video. But how to change this process, if the interface will not be placed in the plane of the screen? Suddenly, there are many nuances that should be taken into account.

First of all, it is changing the perception of space. As users, we do not even think about these things before, but virtual reality - it's a whole new experience. Imagine that put on glasses, turn on Netflix, and find yourself in a wooden house. You are sitting on a red sofa next to the huge 60-inch screen and begin to realize the full potential of VR. After that, the physical television no longer seems such a necessity as before.

You are immersed in a new space before the transition to the basic functions of the program. Already this fact alone can cause a number of issues to Netflix and many other well-familiar to us digital platforms. Think of Google, YouTube, Facebook.

In the future we will manage the menu items, which are now presented in 2D-format?

You can see what new ways we manage to master. What used to work on a "point and click", now it is different, depending on the particular device. Some helmets are displayed before the eyes of the target, which can be controlled by movements of the head, instead of the mouse cursor. In this case, to select a piece of text, an icon or other object, we press the button on the helmet.

You can also use special gloves that allow you to select menu items and manipulate other elements of the virtual space. And finally, after many years of voice control comes to the fore.

How will we interact with each other in the virtual space

Despite the growing fear of isolation, many experts are encouraging the belief that the VR really make us closer to each other. Speaking at a conference TED Talks, virtual designer and pioneer of VR-Chris Milk (Chris Milk) called virtual reality machine empathy. After all, this technology is able to carry us around other people and enables them to share personal experiences.

Imagine that with the help of virtual reality you were on a remote beach. Where now spend time your friends. Their emotions are now in front of you. Instead of to represent the experience of others by verbal description, you can immerse yourself in it.

These social and spatial innovation does not just change the lives of individuals, they will have a huge impact on technology companies.

It is not difficult to guess that the office like Spotify are already beginning to think about how to voice our virtual worlds. For example, mix air with melancholic music suitable for sunsets on the beach. Another option - a dynamic playlist that syncs with the emotions of the majority of visitors of public space.

Influence of companies to spread to other aspects of the virtual world. Now Google offers search options based on the query history. For example, we can see the space, styled in the spirit of your favorite movies, stories taken from Netflix views.

In the future, we visited places in VR will also be tailored to fit our individual preferences.

Facebook is taking its first steps toward virtual reality. Mark Zuckerberg has already discussed the possibility of this technology save us dear moments, be it birthdays or marriage proposal. We will be able to invite friends and family to share this event with us. And in the future, Facebook can become a time machine, which will plunge into the virtual memory.

Of course, it took us several generations to realize less impressive features of personal computers, in particular interfaces. And in order to raise them to the expected level, it requires more than one year.